A grieving husband and father bravely spoke out on Wednesday for the first time publicly since his wife’s murder and son’s arrest.
Jacques Gobin told reporters outside the Ottawa courthouse that he supports his son.
“It is very hard of course to see him this way.” Gobin said, “I’m very much still grieving. I am still a father of two children though, I do recognize that. I’m here to support my son.”
18-year-old Christopher Gobin is charged with first degree murder in the stabbing death of his mother Luce Lavertu on April 22, 2014.
Jacques Gobin today recalled the horrifying moment he discovered his wife’s body in the kitchen of the family’s Orleans home.
“I was taken away from the scene from our excellent Ottawa Police Service after I called 9-1-1.” Gobin said, “Christopher, I did not see him in the house, we did not know where he was and shortly after the police did arrest him.”
Gobin believes mental illness may to be blame for the tragedy, “He had been struggling. I like to think there is an illness, but this will come through the judicial process.”
Gobin says he and his wife, Luce, were a good match. The two met after Gobin’s first military post near Quebec City.
“I can’t comment on my son but what I can tell you is that my wife, his mother, loved him very much.”
“I’m still his father so I will act in a father capacity even though I’m also the spouse of the victim.”
On Friday, Jacques Gobin will see his son for the first time face to face since his arrest on April 22, 2014.
He will visit the Ottawa Regional Detention Centre with his mother, Christopher’s Grandmother, and daughter, Christopher’s sister.
When asked what he will say to his son, Gobin said “I will tell him I love him.”
Christopher Gobin will be back in court May 14, 2014.
